Stop Acting Like A Christian, and Just BE One…

So we are halfway through our Hawaii District Council and boy has it been a ride! We had the privilege to hear a solid series of messages delivered by Christine Caine, who is a pastor at HillSong Church in Australia and leads the A21 Project in Eurpoe against the human trafficking movement.

What I loved about Christine is that she delivered the RAW Word – not sprinkled with pixi-dust so that it sounds nice to everyone. It wasn’t tailored in a way to makes us all feel good necessarily, but it hit us with defining truth that made us all re-think our walks with God. Now, I could go on for days on different parts of each sermon, but what I encourage everyone to go out and get her book “Stop Acting like a Christian and BE one!”. I’m just starting it, but based on what I heard, it’s definitely promising.

I loved how she delivered the Word truthfully. At times, she stepped on religious toes and it wasn’t unusual for the room to remain silent at the presence of conviction. She wasn’t reaching for “Amens”, and she wasn’t speaking tongues over us and expecting us to fall over and receive a blessing in the form of synergetic movement. She just taught us how to understand the Word for ourselves, but more importantly, for what it really means. A lot of what we base our Christinaity on is purely out of religion and the rules we made up. We’ve chosen to accept a certain sound of music as praise and worship, and we’ve allowed only certain people to enter our churches. We talk so much about reaching out to the world, but we can’t even get to know our own neighbors and befriend those that need us. We’ve made God out to be an accessory to look good with instead of making his mission the forefront of our lives. We’ve been acting like Christians insted of just being one.

I’m refreshed even more and encouraged to change it up. Go out and get her book. Christine was a great messenger, but the Word speaks for itself. And when it speaks, we can ALL afford to listen. Really, truly listen. Let’s learn to BE Christians, and drop the front.

Motor-mouth

Prayer goes a long way in life. For most, it seems like the easiest proof of someone’s faith. When I say easiest, prayer doesn’t require much discipline in the sense that there is really no standard to the normal person of how a prayer sounds. To the normal person, prayer is simply an acknowledgement of God in some portion of their day. I used to think prayer was my “good enough” ticket to my daily claim as a Christian. I used it as a means to make myself feel good for the fact that I didn’t even know where I left my Bible from the Sunday before amongst other signs of my false Christianity.

Too bad we’re not normal. I’m baffled still to this day as to how amazing it is to have a direct line to God. He is such an awesome wonder that, for me, to think that he stops to listen to what I have to say is mind-boggling. Some question how God can listen to everyone at once, but they fail to realize that God’s possibilities and abilities are far beyond our own understanding. Prayer represents your relationship with God. It represents how seriously you take Him. That may sound like a rather bold statement, but in reality, there’s no one you need to be proving your love for God to than to God himself. If you’re married, you would probably agree with me in that communication is a crucial part in your relationship. If your spouse doesn’t talk to you sincerely, there’s really no growth going in there. This is true in any relationship. Especially with God. How do we expect God to take us seriously if we don’t take Him seriously?

When we pray, we need to earnestly seek Him; to really try and get into a mindset of speaking out to God. This is our opportunity to share with God. And who said that praying is only a request line? From the time you wake up to the time you go to bed, get used to just talking to Him. Thank Him for giving you another day in your life. Thank Him for the bargain you found at the mall. Tell Him how much you adore that fact that He made mountains looks stunning and your little niece’s hair so beautiful. If He really is our best friend, we need to talk to Him as if, well, He is! Of course He knows everything about us, but He wants to hear it from us! He wants so much for us to tell Him about how nervous we felt about talking to our boss for a promotion, and how much we dislike mayonnaise. And when we do ask Him for things, He wants us to express with passion how much we want it, but more importantly, how much we are putting our faith in Him to deliver us out of that situation. 

Prayer, as it has done in the Bible, delivers. A prayer unanswered is not a failure, for God saw otherwise what would be best for us in that situation. Prayer, when done with a good heart and a sound mind, brings satisfaction to add to the relationship between you and God. You don’t need to wait for meals and bedtime. You don’t even need to wait for a prayer request. There’s no calling plan, and no rollover minutes to worry about.  Just talk to Him. You’ll grow in other parts, but you gotta learn to talk to Him.

God’s available 24/7.You don’t have to break the ice, and you don’t have to fake it. Just talk.